The Dark Secret of the Heart of the Cards
by ComputerNerd
Summary: Duel Academy is about to face something more evil than anything the world has ever seen. This time, even the heart of the cards may not be enough to defeat this evil. Duelists must find new strategies that involve more flexible card combos if they have any hope of surviving. It's up to one new student to prepare Duel Academy for what is to come. But will she be enough?
1. Last Lucky Streak

_Author's note: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, TV Tokyo and, unfortunately, 4Kids TV. Speaking of which, I have considered using the Japanese versions of the Japanese characters' names rather than the 4Kids names, such as Judai Yuki instead of Jaden Yuki. Unfortunately, when I tried that, I ended up confusing myself, so I don't know how many other English speakers I would end up confusing. Instead I decided that I would make up a few of my own characters and give them Japanese names._

_You may also notice that duels in this Fanfic give players 8000 initial life points instead of 4000. I wanted to make the rules more like the real world card game, which also means that players cannot normal summon monsters in face up defense position._

It was almost time for a new semester at Duel Academy. There was currently an exam in progress to determine which applicants would be accepted into the school as freshmen.

There were only two applicants left who were waiting to take their exams. The first was a boy named Taro Yamada. The last was a girl named Kokoro Chikara.

The head of the Obelisk Blue dorm, Doctor Crowler, was not impressed by Taro's transcripts. Intent on rejecting Taro from the academy, Crowler was using his own personal deck rather than an exam deck, much like he did to Jaden Yuki a couple years ago.

Taro's first move was to place two cards face down. He didn't even summon a monster.

Crowler then drew a card. "I activate the spell card, Trap Booster!" he said dramatically. "By discarding one card, I can activate one trap card from my hand. That trap card is Call of the Haunted!"

"How can you play Call of the Haunted when you don't have any monsters in your graveyard?" asked Taro.

"As a matter of fact, I do have a monster in my graveyard." said Crowler. "I discarded it to play Trap Booster. And that monster in the Trojan Horse!

"Since the Trojan Horse was a special summon, I can still normal summon another monster. Furthermore, if I summon an earth monster, I can treat the Trojan horse as two sacrifices! So say hello to Ancient Gear Golem!"

Kokoro was watching this duel from the sidelines. _Not only did he just use up four cards from his hand to summon one monster,_ she thought, _but they all had to be four specific cards. Why am I not surprised?_

"Now Ancient Gear Golem will attack your life points directly!" said Crowler.

"Not so fast!" said Taro. "I activate my trap card, Mirror Force!"

"Sorry, but no can do," said Crowler. "While Ancient Gear Golem is attacking, you can't activate trap cards."

"Fine," said Taro. "I activate my other face down card: Scapegoats."

"Quick-play spell cards don't work either," said Crowler.

Taro cursed as he took 3000 points of damage, bringing him from 8000 to 5000 life points.

"Next I activate Giant Trunade, returning your face down cards and my Call of the Haunted to my hand," said Crowler. "Normally this would destroy the monster that was summoned from the graveyard. But the Trojan Horse is already back in the graveyard. Normally that would destroy Call of the Haunted, except that the Trojan Horse was never destroyed; I sacrificed it."

"Before Giant Trunade resolves, I activate Scapegoats, summoning four tokens to the field," said Taro.

"I place one card face down and end my turn," said Crowler.

Taro drew a card. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light," he said, "preventing you from attacking for three turns. I then end my turn."

Crowler drew a card. He now had two cards in his hand. "I activate my face down card," he said. "In case you didn't guess, it's Call of the Haunted all over again! I'm using it to summon the Trojan Horse from my Graveyard, which I will then sacrifice for my second Ancient Gear Golem!

"Next I activate Heavy Storm, destroying your Swords of Revealing Light. Yes, it also destroys my own Call of the Haunted, but as I've explained before, I don't need it any more.

Now, my first Ancient Gear Golem will attack one of your Scapegoat tokens. I should warn you that Ancient Gear Golem can inflict piercing battle damage when attacking a monster in defense mode. And since Scapegoat tokens have zero defense points, this might as well be a direct attack!"

Taro gulped in fear as his life points dropped to 2000.

"This duel is over!" said Crowler. "I attack with my second Ancient Gear Golem, wiping out the rest of your life points!"

Taro sank to his knees a his life points hit zero.

It was Kokoro's turn to duel Doctor Crowler. She bowed politely, then she and Crowler shuffled their respective decks. Kokoro could see a small spirit hovering next to Crowler's duel disk, helping him shuffle. Kokoro's eyes flashed, and a burst of energy blew the spirit away.

_You may have been lucky in your last duel,_ she thought, _and probably in previous duels as well, but your lucky streak is about to end with me._

Kokoro and Doctor Crowler each drew five cards. Then Kokoro drew a sixth.

"I normal summon Marauding Captain, allowing me to special summon Command Knight from my hand," said Kokoro rather quickly. "I then play one card face down and end my turn."

Marauding Captain's stats were Level 3, 1200 attack, 400 defense. Command Knight was Level 4, 1200 attack, 1900 defense. However, Command Knight's special ability gave all Kokoro's warriors 400 extra attack points, including Command Knight herself. Now Marauding Captain and Command Knight each had 1600 attack points.

Doctor Crowler then drew a card. He was not looking happy with his current hand. "I summon Ancient Gear Soldier (LV 4/1300 ATK/1300 DEF). I then play one card face down and end my turn."

"At the end of your turn, I activate my face down Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying your face down card," said Kokoro. Doctor Crowler's face down card was destroyed, revealing it to be Negate Attack.

Kokoro drew a card. "I summon Dark Blade (LV 4/1800 (+400 = 2200) ATK/1500 DEF). I then attack your Ancient Gear Soldier with my Marauding Captain."

Doctor Crowler's Ancient Gear Soldier was destroyed, and Crowler took 300 points of damage, reducing his life points to 7700.

"I then attack you directly with Command Knight, followed by Dark Blade," said Kokoro. Crowler took 3800 points of damage, leaving him at 3900 life points.

Doctor Crowler drew a card. "I activate Premature Burial. By paying 800 life points, I can summon Ancient Gear Soldier from my graveyard." His life points dropped to 3100. "I then sacrifice Ancient Gear Soldier to summon Ancient Gear Beast (LV 6/2000 ATK/2000 DEF). Now, Ancient Gear Beast, attack Command Knight!"

"Sorry," said Kokoro. "You can't attack Command Knight unless she's the only monster on my side of the field."

"What? Fine!" said Crowler angrilly. "I attack Marauding Captain instead."

Marauding Captain was destroyed, and Kokoro took 400 points of damage, leaving her at 7600 life points.

Kokoro drew a card. "I activate Reinforcement of the Army," she said, "allowing me to add another Command Knight from my deck to my hand. I then summon her to the field."

Since Kokoro now had two Command Knights, all her Warrior-type monsters gained 800 attack points. Now each Command Knight had 2000 attack points, and Dark Blade had 2600.

"I attack your Ancient Gear Beast with my Dark Blade," said Kokoro. Ancient Gear Beast was destroyed, and Crowler took 600 points of damage, leaving him at 2500.

"I then attack you directly with both Command Knights," said Kokoro. The first Command Knight reduced Crowler's life points to 500, and the second reduced him to zero.

Jaden Yuki and Syrus Trusdale were watching this duel from the bleachers. "Wow," said Syrus. "That girl just defeated Doctor Crowler almost as easily as he defeated that boy who applied before her."

"Yeah," said Jaden. "I wonder what happened to Crowler? He seemed a bit off. I was expecting him to at least summon his Ancient Gear Golem. That might have turned things around."

"What was your name again?" asked Doctor Crowler.

"Kokoro Chikara," said Kokoro.

"Well, Kokoro Chikara, welcome to Duel Accademy," said Doctor Crowler in a voice that didn't sound very sincere.

"Thank you very much," said Kokoro, bowing.

_Something evil is coming this way very soon,_ she thought. _When it does, I'll be ready to fight it. It will require all my strength, so I can't depend on luck._


	2. Agent Heart Breaker

Two students at Duel Academy were dueling against each other. One of them was a top-ranking Obelisk Blue student, in his third year. The other was a new student in Slifer Red, the lowest rank.

"I fuse my VW Tiger Catapult with XYZ Dragon Cannon in order to summon V-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon!" said the Obelisk Blue student. "I use its special ability to remove your face down monster from the game. Now that you're defenseless, I will attack your life points directly!"

Kokoro, who had been accepted into the Obelisk Blue dorm, happened to walk in on the end of this duel. She watched as the Slifer Red student lost the remainder of his life points.

"You'll never beat me, Slifer slime, no matter how hard you try!" boasted the Obelisk Blue student.

"Why are you so mean to the Slifer students?" ask Kokoro.

"Because they don't belong here," answered the Obelisk student. "They don't even know how to build a proper deck."

_As if you do,_ thought Kokoro silently. _V-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon is extremely overrated. If only it had an effect that said, "If you summon this card, you win automatically." But even then it would be worse than Exodia._

Kokoro didn't dare say that out loud. Instead she said, "Well, this is a school. The point of a school is to learn."

"In that case, why am I here?" asked the arrogant Obelisk Blue student.

"Now you've gone too far," said Kokoro angrily. "We all have new things to learn, and I'm about to prove it. Let's duel!"

Kokoro was the only person present who could see the spirit hovering next to her opponent's deck. It looked like a heart-shaped torso with arms and legs sticking out, and a sinister face in the middle. Kokoro glared at the spirit and blew it away with a blast of energy.

One duel later...

"I can't believe my rotten luck!" complained the boy from Obelisk Blue. "I didn't get to summon a single fusion monster!"

"Your luck was fine," said Kokoro, refraining from pointing out that it was his previous luck that was way too good.

"Are you saying that I ran out of skill?" asked the boy angrily.

"Well, no, but..." Kokoro started, but she was running out of polite explanations. _That actually is what I mean,_ she thought, _but how am I supposed to tell him that?_

The next day, Kokoro crossed paths with Jaen Yuki of Slifer Red. Jaden had heard of the new rising star above all the other Obelisk Blues, and he was itching for the chance to duel her. Likewise, Kokoro had heard of Jaden's impressive records, and she was curious to see what he was capable of.

As Kokoro and Jaden shuffled their decks, Kokoro saw the usual spirit preparing to meddle with their decks. Before she could blow it away, however, Jaden said something that distracted her.

"Is this a new duel spirit?" he asked.

"You can see it?" asked Kokoro.

"Can you?" replied Jaden.

Kokoro regained her focus and zapped the spirit away from Jaden's deck, but she feared that she may have been too late.

"What did you do that for?" asked Jaden.

"Not all spirits are friendly," said Kokoro.

"I know that," said Jaden. "I once fought against the spirit of Jinzo, who was trying to steal three human souls in order to set himself free of his own card."

"That spirit was way more evil than Jinzo," said Kokoro. "And he was meddling with your deck. You should double-check your cards."

Jaden looked at his deck and scanned through his cards. "You think maybe he inserted himself into my deck? I don't see him anywhere in here."

"This isn't the spirit of any card in particular," said Kokoro. "He has a different way of manipulating people."

"Hey, sweet!" said Jaden. "Look at the top five cards I would have drawn. Two Polymerizations and Elemental Heroes Avian, Burstinatrix and Sparkman. I could have summoned Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman on my first turn!"

"Sorry, but now that you've seen the order of your cards, you need to reshuffle," said Kokoro.

"I know," said Jaden. "Talk about bad luck stemming from good luck!"

Kokoro made sure to keep up her spirit barrier to keep the cheating spirit at bay.

"Let's duel," said Kokoro.

"Get your game on!" said Jaden.

Jaden was experiencing similar frustration to Kokoro's previous opponent concerning fusion monsters. Kokoro was feeling similar disappointment concerning he opponents' dependency on luck.

"I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole in attack mode!" said Jaden during the late stages of the duel. "I then end my turn."

Kokoro had never seen that card before, but she was doubtful of its strength. She pressed a button on her duel disk to get a closer look at the card. As she read it, her eyes widened.

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Rock/Earth/LV 3/900 ATK/300 DEF

At the start of the Damage Step, if this card battles an opponent's monster: You can return both monsters to the hand (without damage calculation).

"Wow, Jaden, that card is amazing!" said Kokoro honestly. _It's basically the diamond in the rough among his other cards,_ she added silently.

"I can't say it's very amazing in this situation," said Jaden. "Normally I would attack your strongest monster without fear, but since all your monsters are warriors, and two of them are Marauding Captain, I can't attack at all."

Kokoro drew a card and added it to her hand. She then played a different card from her hand.

"I summon Exiled Force," she said, "then sacrifice it to destroy your Grand Mole. Then I attack you directly with each of my monsters."

"Good game," said Jaden after his life points hit zero.

"Good game," repeated Kokoro politely, despite her disappointment in Jaden's poor deck.

Later that night...

"Good evening, Agent Heart Breaker," said a voice from Kokoro's secure communicator.

_Why did I ever agree to that name?_ thought Kokoro. _It pertains to my mission, but I don't like it._

"Please report the status of your mission," said the voice.

"Not good, Major," said Kokoro. "This whole school is choked with deck-stacking demons."

"That's why you're there," said the Major. "Nobody is better than you at exorcising those demons."

"Unfortunately, that's the only easy part," said Kokoro. "How am I supposed to tell these people that their deck structures are too fragile, and they need to build stronger decks from scratch?"

"Your modesty is one of your most admirable traits," said the Major. "But we are at war against the most evil demon who ever existed."

"Maybe I'm not the right agent for the job," said Kokoro.

"On the contrary, you're the _only_ agent capable of this mission," said the Major. "We've encountered this demon lord before, but we could never defeat him. But ever since we recruited you, he's become next to impossible to find. What does that tell you?"

"He's afraid of me," said Kokoro.

"Exactly," said the Major. "He the world's most evil demon, and you're the only person he's ever feared, because you're the only person who can defeat him. But you can only so so if you stop fearing yourself.

"But this isn't why I called you," continued the Major. "I called to tell you that we have secured tickets for you to attend the dueling arena to see Yugi Muto, the King of Games, duel against Datcher Seaforth, the challenger for the title."

"Do you think watching this duel will lead us to the demon lord we're after?" asked Kokoro.

"It's a small lead, but that's better than nothing," said the Major. "You will be briefed on the ride to the dueling arena."


	3. The Secret of the Dark Datcher Seaforth

"Ladies and gentlemen!" said the commentator at the duel arena. "Welcome to the 30th annual King of Games challenger duel! Please welcome our defending champion, holder of the King of Games title since it existed, YUGI MUTO!"

The crowd erupted with applause.

"And here's the challenger from overseas, the winner of this year's King of Games tournament, DATCHER SEAFORTH!"

Meanwhile, at Duel Academy...

"Wow, Jaden, I'm surprised to see you actually made it on time for once," said Alexis Rhodes, a girl from Obelisk Blue.

"Are you kidding?" said Jaden. "We're about to watch the King of Games defend his title. There's no way I'd miss this! By the way, have you seen Kokoro?"

"She's in the audience," answered Alexis.

Jaden looked around. "Where?"

"She's in the _arena_," Alexis clarified.

"You mean she gets to see the duel in _person?_" said Jaden. "How?"

"She told me this morning that she had just received tickets, then she ran off to catch her ride," explained Alexis.

"Man, I am _so _jealous!" said Jaden.

Meanwhile, at the arena...

Kokoro Chikara, AKA Agent Heart Breaker, was watching the dueling field from the darkest corners of the audience, along with a few other secret agents. They were all dressed like ninjas.

"It's _him,_" said Agent Heart Breaker.

"Datcher Seaforth?" said the Private. "Is he being manipulated by the demon lord?"

"He _is _the demon lord," corrected Agent Heartbreaker. "I can feel his demonic energy converging around him."

"Congratulations on winning the tournament to get this far, Mr. Seaforth," said Yugi politely. "May the best duelist win."

"Congratulations on defending your title for 30 years straight," said Datcher Seaforth, who spoke perfect Japanese despite being a foreigner.

"What can I say?" said Yugi. "The Heart of the Cards has served me well."

"Ah, yes, your beloved Heart of the Cards," said Datcher. "Yet another synonym for 'dumb luck.'"

"I beg your pardon?" said Yugi angrily.

"You heard me," said Datcher. "You've been getting lucky for thirty years straight, but you won't stay lucky forever."

"It wasn't luck!" said Yugi furiously. "It was..."

"The Heart of the Cards?" finished Datcher. "Like I said, they're the same thing."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Yugi. "I'll tech you a lesson you'll never forget! You're going down!"

"So much for 'may the best Duelist win,'" said Datcher.

"I _was _going to accept either outcome of this duel," said Yugi, "but _nobody _insults the Heart of the Cards and gets away with it!"

"I don't get it," said the Private. "If Datcher Seaforth is the demon lord, doesn't it seem out of character for him to insult the Heart of the Cards?"

"He's getting Yugi riled up," explained Agent Heart Breaker. "By pushing his buttons, Yugi becomes more determined to win, increasing his dependency on the Heart of the Cards. After all, Yugi has been in duels in which the loser loses his or her soul, but this isn't one of them."

"I'm still not convinced that Seaforth is our target," said the Major.

Yugi and Datcher each shuffled their decks, then drew five cards. Although they weren't allowed to see each other's hand, both players' hands were on display to the audience. Yugi's hand consisted of Alpha the Magnet Warrior, Beta the Magnet Warrior, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, Dark Blade, and Swords of Revealing Light.

"Sweet!" said Jaden. "We'll get to see Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (LV8/3500 ATK/3850 DEF) in action early!"

"But in order to do that, he still needs to draw Gamma the Magnet Warrior," Alexis pointed out.

"He'll probably draw it soon enough," said Jaden. "All he needs is the Heart of the Cards."

Back at the arena, Agent Heart Breaker had also noticed Yugi's barely incomplete combo, but her reaction was different.

"This is just what Yugi needs to have his hopes rise higher than ever, only to have them fall so much further," she whispered.

"The challenger for the title will make the first move!" announced the commentator.

Datcher Seaforth drew a card. "I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4 (1600 ATK/1000 DEF)! Then I sacrifice him to activate Level Up, allowing me to summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 (2300 ATK/1600 DEF). Then I sacrifice him to activate another Level Up, summoning Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 (3000 ATK/1800 DEF)! I then end my turn."

"Horus is actually a good card," said Agent Heart Breaker. "I had a friend at the agency who played a Horus deck, and he beat me. And I made sure there weren't any demons manipulating either of our decks, so he won with his own skill. But he never summoned Horus Level 8 on his first turn."

"Can't you negate the demonic deck stacking with your power?" asked the Private.

"I could easily do that from here," said Agent Heart Breaker. "But if I use my power, the demon lord will know that I'm here. If he runs away, we'll have to hunt him down all over again. If I could get closer, I could put a force field around Datcher Seaforth."

"We still don't know for sure that Seaforth is the demon lord," said the Major.

"If he is only human, my force field will have no effect on him," said Agent Heart Breaker.

Yugi drew a card. "I set a monster in face down defense mode," he said. "Then I activate the spell card, Swords of Revealing Light!"

As soon as Swords of Revealing Light appeared on the field, Horus shot a blast of fire straight at it from his mouth, obliterating it.

"What did you just do, Seaforth?" asked Yugi.

"Horus Level 8 has the power to negate any spell card as soon as you play it, free of any cost," explained Datcher. "He can do that any number of times to the spell cards of my choice."

_Doesn't Yugi's duel disk have a function that displays a closeup of his opponent's cards, provided that he's allowed to know what the card is? _thought Agent Heart Breaker.

"I end my turn," submitted Yugi.

Datcher drew a card. "I place one card face down," he said. "Then I activate the Spell Card, Fairy Meteor Crush! By equipping it to Horus, if he attacks a monster in defense mode, he inflicts piercing battle damage to your life points. Horus, attack Yugi's face down monster!"

Yugi's monster flipped face up, revealing it to be Mystical Elf (LV4/800 ATK/2000 DEF). Mystical Elf was destroyed, and Yugi took 1000 points of damage, leaving him at 7000 life points.

"I end my turn," said Datcher.

Yugi slowly positioned his hand to draw a card from his deck. _Heart of the Cards,_ he thought, _guide me._

Yugi drew Mirror Force. "I summon Dark Blade in attack mode! Then I place one card face down and end my turn."

_Mirror force might help me destroy Horus, _thought Yugi. _But what I really want to draw is Gamma the Magnet Warrior._

Datcher drew a card. "I activate the spell card, Card Destruction!"

"Oh NO!" exclaimed Yugi.

"You obviously know what that means!" said Datcher. "We each discard our hands and draw the same number of cards that we discarded!"

Datcher discarded the only two cards in his hand. Yugi discarded three.

"Well, how about that!" mocked Datcher. "One card away from a four-card combo that would have allowed you to summon a monster stronger than Horus."

Datcher drew two cards, and Yugi drew three. Yugi looked in horror at the first card he had just drawn.

"Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing that you just drew Gamma the Magnet Warrior," said Datcher. "If only the Heart of the Cards had been kind enough to give you that card one turn earlier."

"Can it!" said Yugi. "I've been in tougher situations than this, but the Heart of the Cards has always prevailed in the end! And I mean ALWAYS!"

The ninja agents had just snuck through the bleachers so that Agent Heart Breaker could get close enough to Datcher Seaforth. She focused her spiritual power to surround him in a force field.

Datcher shot a beam of dark energy at the force field around him, and it shattered. Agent Heart Breaker cringed in pain.

"He broke my force field!" she said. "He must have absorbed more power when he crushed Yugi's hopes by playing Card Destruction."

"Time for plan B," said the Major. "Can you stop him from stacking both decks?"

"I need time to replenish my strength," said Agent Heart Breaker.

"Let's hope that Yugi can hold out until then," said the Private.

"Actually, let's not hope for anything," said Agent Heart Breaker. "The less hope energy that's in this building, the better."

"See? This is why you're still a Private," said the Major.

"I guess I can forget about that promotion I was hoping for," said the Private.

Agent Heart Breaker and the Major glared at him angrily.

"Can't anyone take a joke around here?" asked the Private.

"Horus, attack Dark Blade!" said Datcher.

"You've walked right into my trap!" said Yugi. "MIRROR FORCE!"

"I'll counter your trap with my own trap," said Datcher. "Call of the Haunted!"

"That card doesn't negate traps," said Yugi. "It summons a monster from your graveyard!"

"In this case, it does both," said Datcher, "because that monster is Jinzo (LV6/2400 ATK/1500 DEF)!"

"You can't summon Jinzo with Call of the Haunted!" said Yugi. "They should cancel each other out!"

"Quite the contrary," said Datcher. "Call of the Haunted already served its purpose before Jinzo's effect kicked in. Furthermore, Jinzo breaks the bond between himself and my trap, so if Call of the Haunted is destroyed, Jinzo stays!

"Since Jinzo negated your Mirror Force," continued Datcher, "Horus is free to destroy your Dark Blade!"

Yugi took 1200 points of damage, leaving him at 5800.

"Also, since Jinzo was summoned in attack mode during the battle phase, he can attack your life points directly!" said Datcher.

Yugi lost 2400 more life points, leaving him at 3400.

_Those monsters can deal a total of 5400 points of damage!_ thought Yugi. _I'm finished unless I can prevent more than 2000 of those points. Even then, I'll only be delaying my defeat. There's only one monster in my deck that can give me a chance of winning: Cyber Jar! Its flip effect can reset the field. I must put all my faith in this next draw._

Yugi positioned his hand on his deck, preparing to draw a card. _Heart of the Cards, _he thought. _HELP ME!_

Yugi slowly drew his card. He then nervously looked at it.

_Black Luster Ritual?! That spell card can't help me now!_

"I set a monster in face down defense mode," said Yugi. "I then end my turn."

Datcher drew a card. "You really need to work on your poker face," he said. "Horus, attack his face down monster!"

Yugi's monster was destroyed, revealing it to be Gamma, the Magnet Warrior (LV4/1500 ATK/1800 DEF). Yugi took 1200 points of damage, leaving his life points at 2200.

"Now, Jinzo, attack Yugi Directly!" said Datcher.

"NOOOO!" screamed Yugi as his life points hit zero.

"Admit it, Yugi," said Datcher. "The Heart of the Cards has betrayed you!" His body started transforming into the same shape as the spirits Kokoro had been fighting at Duel Academy, only much bigger. "Now, feel the agony of your shattered faith!"

"Yugi sank to his knees a he felt energy being sucked out of him. "What are you?" he asked.

"Don't you recognize me?" asked the demon. "You've said my name many times over the course of this duel."

"Datcher Seaforth?" said Yugi. "But I already knew that!"

"Datcher Seaforth was just a cover," laughed the demon. "You've said my real name more times than that. I've even referred to myself in the third person!"

"I think I'd remember if that were true," said Yugi weakly. Even as he said that, he was blacking out.

"Here's one more hint," said the demon. "I have many names in many languages, all with the same meaning. But my English name is an anagram for Datcher Seaforth!"

Yugi lost consciousness before he could begin to figure out that hint. Just then, Agent Heart Breaker jumped between Yugi and the demon and put up a force field to protect Yugi. The Major and the Private grabbed Yugi and dragged him to a safe place.

"So, you like anagrams?" said Agent Heart Breaker. "I've got one: go hack to bell!"

"That's not an anagram," laughed the demon. "That's a spoonerism! Actually, I suppose it's both."

"Stop splitting hairs and just go back to hell!" said Agent Heart Breaker.

"No, I will not!" said the demon as he shot another wave of dark energy at her force field. "And I don't want to go to hell either," he added.

Agent Heart Breaker cringed in pain as her force field shattered again.

"I admit that you had me nervous when you first started hunting me down," said the demon. "Had you located me earlier, you may have been able to defeat me. And while you've prevented me from absorbing half of Yugi's faith energy, I assure you that the other half has given me plenty of strength so that not even you can stop me now! So savor what little time you have left. Soon the whole planet will be under my foot!" He then vanished into thin air.


End file.
